Obama’s Approval Rating Below 50%, Re-Election Uncertain

President Barack Obama earned a job approval rating average of 46.8 percent in his 10th quarter in office, according to a Gallup poll.

This is Mr. Obama’s sixth straight quarter below the 50 percent mark, however it is virtually unchanged from his 9th quarter rating of 46.7.

Obama joins a cluster of former presidents who experienced sub-50 percent, and later won re-election–Bill Clinton (49.3), Richard Nixon (49.2) and Ronald Reagan (44.4). Former President George W. Bush’s 10th quarter approval rating was an exceptional 73.6 percent.

According to Gallup, it is too early forecast what these numbers will mean for Obama during the 2012 president election, considering there’s no consistent pattern in the quarterly approval averages of previous presidents to say whether 46.8 percent pinpoints a re-election or defeat.